Automated real-time call summarization

ABSTRACT

Method for real-time automated call summarization comprises determining an issue of a caller based on at least one of a call transcript, an extracted intent from the call transcript, or a slot of the intent. Based on the issue, a resolution is determined, and further an action item to implement the resolution is determined. The determined resolution and the action item are displayed in a graphical user interface (GUI).

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to improving call centercomputing and management systems, and particularly to automatedreal-time call summarization.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

Several businesses need to provide support to its customers, which isprovided by a customer care call center. Customers place a call to thecall center and customer service agents in the call center address andresolve customer issues. Computerized call management systems arecustomarily used to assist in logging the calls, and implementingresolution of customer issues. An agent (user of a computerized callmanagement system) is required to capture the issues accurately, plan aresolution to the satisfaction of the customer, and capture a summary ofthe call for future record, compliance and for implementing theresolution. Despite several advances, the burden on the agents incapturing information from the call is high, and limits the ability ofan agent in the number of calls handled by the agent.

Therefore, there exists a need for improving the state of the art incall management.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for automatedreal-time call summarization, substantially as shown in and/or describedin connection with at least one of the figures, as set forth morecompletely in the claims.

These and other features and advantages of the present disclosure may beappreciated from a review of the following detailed description of thepresent disclosure, along with the accompanying figures in which likereference numerals refer to like parts throughout.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

So that the manner in which the above-recited features of the presentinvention can be understood in detail, a more particular description ofthe invention, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference toembodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. Itis to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate onlytypical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to beconsidered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to otherequally effective embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a call summarization apparatus, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of call summarization method, in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an environment incorporating theapparatus and the method of FIGS. 1 and 2, respectively, in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 depicts a graphical user interface (GUI)generated by the callsummarization apparatus of FIG. 1 and method of FIG. 2, respectively, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a method and an apparatusfor automated real-time call summarization. A call summarizationapparatus comprises a call processing engine, which is implemented onone or more computers. The engine is configured to transcribe audio datafrom a call when the call is still active, and generate text data of thecall in real time, that is, as the parties on the call (i.e., a customerand an agent) speak. The audio of such speech is converted to text usingautomatic speech recognition (ASR) techniques. The engine applieslanguage processing techniques to the text data to comprehend the textdata, for example, to extract markers relevant to the call, in realtime. Markers may include an intent of the customer, a slot or a furthersub-category of the intent of the customer. The engine compares thecall, in real time, using the text data with one or more rules stored ina knowledge database, for example, compliance rules, performance rules,resolution rules and the like. The engine generates alerts if anyinstances of issues with compliance or performance are found, andpresents such alerts to the agent and/or a supervisor of the agentduring the call, and/or after the call is concluded.

The engine further identifies an issue (e.g., a complaint, a request,among others), which is the purpose of the customer'scall. Using NaturalLanguage Processing (NLP) techniques with built-in Natural LanguageUnderstanding & Generation (NLU,NLG) techniques, powered by deep,bi-directional Recursive Neural Networks (RNN) algorithm, the engineidentifies the intents in the call, extracts various slots under eachintent to further identify the sentiments, resolutions, actions andpromises from the call. Intents are conversation shapers, and the issueis one of the intents. Slots are in general places, cities, timelines,among other related factors. Based on the intents, including theidentified issue, and one or more of text data, orresolutionrulesaugmented with data from back-end knowledge systems, customerrelationship management (CRM) databases, the engine identifies aresolutionto address or fulfil the identified issue. The engine furtheridentifies specific action items in accordance with the determinedresolution, for example, based on one or more of the text data or theresolution rules. The engine may additionally identify personnel ordepartments responsible for the action items. The engine presents asummarization of the call, which includes the identified issue, theidentified resolution and action items, in a graphical user interface(GUI) to the agent, after the call is concluded. Optionally, the enginealso presents one or more of the entire text data, portions thereof,intent, slot, compliance, or performance issues.

As used herein, the term “real time” means as soon as possible, unlessindicated otherwise. For example, the audio data from the call istranscribed to text data, as soon as possible, including while the callis under progress. Similarly, language processing techniques are used toprocess the text as soon as possible, depending on as and whenprocessable text becomes available, and the compliance is checked assoon as processed text becomes available. Similarly, elements forconstituting the summary are prepared as soon as processable informationfrom transcription, language processing and/orcompliance check becomesavailable and can be summarized. Such elements are aggregated over theduration of the call, and upon conclusion of the call, and portions ofthe call that were not previously processed for summarization areprocessed, supplemented with the aggregated elements, and presented as asummary. In some instances, a call summary is prepared only after thecall is concluded, and is presented as soon as possible after theconclusion of the call, based on the processing time for callsummarization.

FIG. 1 discloses a call summarization apparatus 100 in accordance withan embodiment of the present invention. The apparatus 100 receives datafrom a real-time audio stream of a call 102 and generates and/orpresents a summary 104 of the call 102 in real-time. The apparatus 100includes a processor 106 communicatively coupled to support circuits 108and a memory 110. The processor 106 may be any commercially availableprocessor, microprocessor, microcontroller, and the like. The supportcircuits 108 comprise well-known circuits that provide functionality tothe CPU, such as, a user interface, clock circuits, networkcommunications, cache, power supplies, I/O circuits, and the like. Thememory 110 is any form of digital storage used for storing data andexecutable software. Such memory includes, but is not limited to, randomaccess memory, read only memory, disk storage, optical storage, and thelike.

The memory 106 includescomputer readable instructions corresponding toan operating system (not shown) and a call processing engine 122. Thecall processing engine 122 is configured to transcribe audio data froman active call, and generate text data of the call in real time. In anembodiment, the call processing engine 122 includes a transcribingmodule 112, a language processing module (LPM) 114, a compliance module116 and a summarization module 118. The modules 112-118 include computerexecutable instructions, which when executed by the processor 106,perform the task or function specific to each module.

The transcribing module 112 receives audio data of the call 102 inreal-time. The transcribing module 112 transcribes the audio datatogenerate text datacorresponding to the conversation between the calleror customer and the agent who receives the call, in real-time. Thetranscription is performed using automatic speech recognition (ASR)techniques as generally known in the artand, for example, NUANCE®RECOGNIZERS/TRANSCRIBERS (NR/NTE), IBM® WATSON®, or GOOGLE® ASR engines.

The LPM 114 processes the text data using one or more languageprocessing techniques, for example, natural language processing (NLP) asgenerally known in the art. The LPM 114 extracts one or more intentions(or “intents”) of the caller from the text data. The LPM 114 mayadditionally extract a slot or an additional category under each intent.The LPM 114 may also extract a sentiment of the customer from the textdata. The sentiment of the customer may be categorized as one of‘negative’, ‘positive’, or ‘neutral’, among other appropriatecategorizations.

The compliance module 116 identifies occurrences of non-compliance, orother performance attributes of agent in the call, which include, butare not limited to, Average Call Handling Time (ACHT), Average HoldTime, and First Call Resolution (FCR), among others. In one embodiment,the compliance module 116 alerts an agent or a supervisor of the agentto the identified non-compliance, or call performance attributes. Thecompliance module 116 additionally analyzes the text data and comparesit with rules stored in a backend knowledge database in real-time. Basedon the comparison, the compliance module 116 sends relevant data fordisplay to an agent or the agent's supervisor.

The summarization module 118 identifies an issue of a caller based on atleast one of a call transcript, an extracted intent from the calltranscript, a slot of the intent, and/or a sentiment of the customer.The summarization module 118 further identifies a resolution based onthe identified issue, and further identifies one or more action items toimplement the determined resolution. Additionally, the summarizationmodule 118 may determine one or more personnel or departmentsresponsible for the execution of the one or more action items. Thesummarization module 118 summarizes the call to include the identifiedissue, the resolution and the action items, and further sends the callsummary for display in a graphical user interface (GUI) on a consolevisible to the agent. In one embodiment, the summarization module 118additionally includesa part of or the entire data generated by thetranscribing module 112, the language LPM 114, or the compliance module116.

The summary is automatically generated by the summarization module 118,and presented to the agent. The agent may then edit the automaticallygenerated call summary, and complete the call summarization. Theautomatic call summary reduces a significant workload burden on theagent and also reduces the possibility of human error in callsummarization. Given that the entire resolution (and actions therefor)are captured in a call summary, call summarization is pivotallyimportant to the success of the agent's work. For example,conventionally, average after call workload (ACW), in which the agentsummarizes the call ranges from 60 to 90 seconds. The automatic callsummarization as described above reduces the average ACW by about 46seconds to 56 seconds, or a reduction of about 25% to 40%, which is asignificant reduction in the workload burden of the agent in a criticalphase of call handling, and increases the ability of the agent inhandling more calls with accuracy. Further, the automatic callsummarization also reduces the possibility of human error by accuratelycapturing the issue, the resolution and optionally action items, therebyincreasing the success rate or first call resolution (FCR), whichincreases customer satisfaction. Additionally, the automatic callsummarization also reduces average call handling time (ACHT).

In one embodiment, the summarization module 118 additionally presentsprofile data of the customer and historical data related to the customerin a profile section of the GUI. The profile data of the customer andhistorical data related to the customer may be retrieved from a profiledatabase, for example, included in the database 120. The text datagenerated by the transcribing module 112 may be presented by thesummarization module 118 in a transcriptionsection of the GUI as thetext data is generated. Alerts and /or tips generated by the compliancemodule 116 may be presented by the summarization module 118 in an alertssection of the GUI.

During the call, a blank summary field may be presented to the agent bythe summarization module 118 in a summary section of the GUI. The callsummarization module 118 populates the summary section with theautomatically generated call summary 104 upon conclusion of the call.

In one embodiment, the call summary 104 is editable. The agent may editthe call summary 104 from within the call summary section of the GUI. Afinal version of the call summary 104 may is stored in the database 120for future reference. In one embodiment, the final version of the callsummary 104 is sent to supervisor of the agent.

Various rules, for example, compliance rules, performance rules,resolution rules, and the like are used to detect compliance orperformance events or identify/determine resolutions by comparison withcall data, including text data, intent, slots, emotion, among otherattributes of the call. The comparison utilizes pattern match, Booleanoperators, call offset selection, channel selectionand call data. Forexample, pattern matchrefers to event rules based on speech containingdefined keywords, and a combination of several keywords patternsareidentified using Boolean operators. The call offset selectioncomponentdefines event rules that are based on the span of a call. Forexample, event rules can be defined during an opening span of a call, ora closing span of a call or any other time as desired. Channel selectionrefers to mapping the keywords to an agent channel or a customerchannel. An agent channel typically focuses on the agent's interactionwith a customer.

By monitoring a manner in which an agent interacts with a customer, theagent performance can be assessed. Call data further comprisesinformation regarding various attributes of the call, for example, callduration, speech overlap, silence, talkover, among others. Based onabove techniques, various defined rules are used to identify an event,such as a compliance event, or a performance event, and resolution, suchas a resolution to address the issue of the customer.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of method 200 for call summarization performedby the apparatus 100, in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention. The method 200 starts at step 210, at whichthe apparatus 100receives a real-time audio stream (stream of the call while the call isactive). For example, the transcribing module 112 of FIG. 1 receives theaudio stream.

The method 200 proceeds to step 220, at which thetranscribing module 112generates transcription of the audio stream to generate text data of thecall in real time. That is, as the call proceeds, the words beingexchanged between the customer and the agent are transcribed. The method200 proceeds to step 230, at which the compliance module 116 retrievescustomer profile data and compliance rules from the database 120. Themethod 200 proceeds to step 240, at which the LPM 116 determines anintent of the customer, and optionally a slot (a sub-category) under theintent, based on the text data. The method 200 proceeds to step 250, atwhich the LPM 116 determines a sentiment of the customer based on thetext data. The method 200 proceeds to step 260, at which the compliancemodule 116 compares the compliance rules with the text data, forexample, using the techniques described above, and generates at leastone alert ifany parameter of the call (e.g., customer profile, what thecustomer or the agent is saying) does not comply with the compliancerules retrieved at step 230. The method 200 proceeds to step 270, atwhich the compliance module 116 optionally sends the at least one alertto a supervisor of the agent.

The method 200 proceeds to step 280 for call summarization. The step 280is a composite step representing several steps that comprise callsummarization, and comprises steps 282-290. At step 282 of the method200, the summarization module 118 identifies an issue of the customerbased on at least one of a call transcript, an extracted intent from thecall transcript, a slot of the intent, and/or a sentiment of thecustomer. The method 200 proceeds to step 284, at which thesummarization module 118 identifies a resolution based on the identifiedissue. The resolution may be identified using the text datacorresponding to the agent's speech. In one embodiment, the resolutionis identified using comparison of the identified issue with theresolution rules, for example, using the techniques described above. Inone embodiment, the resolution is identified from a combination of thetext data corresponding to the agent's speech, and the comparison withresolution rules. The method 200 proceeds to step 286, at which thesummarization module 118 identifies one or more action items toimplement the resolution, for example, using text data corresponding tothe agent's speech, or comparison with resolution rules or a combinationthereof. Additionally, the summarization module 118 may determine one ormore personnel or departments responsible for the execution of the oneor more action items. The method 200 proceeds to step 288, at which thesummarization module 118 presents a summary including the issue, theresolution, and the at least one action item in a graphical userinterface (GUI) of a console visible to the agent. The method 200proceeds to optional step 290, at which the summarization module 118includes data generated in steps 240-270, or portions thereof in thesummary 104. For example, such data includes the intent of the customer,a slot of the intent, a sentiment of the customer, or any generatedalerts.

FIG. 3 is schematic diagram of an environment 300 in which the apparatus100 and the method 200 for call summarization of FIGS. 1 and 2 areincorporated, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a portion of a GUI 400 presented to an agent by the callsummarization apparatus 100 and method 200 of FIGS. 1 and 2, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As can be seen,the call summary is displayed in the “Summary” section, complianceissues or alerts are displayed in the “Alerts” section, and the textdata is displayed in the “Transcription” section.

As described above, the embodiments disclosed herein overcome theshortcomings of the state of the art regarding automated real-time callmanagement. The embodiments enable automatic call summarization,yielding significantly lower ACW, and reduced ACHT, which in turn, yieldhigher efficiency in issue resolution, and higher levels of customersatisfaction. The techniques described herein overcome the issuesassociated with conventional system, for example, lack of auto alerts tosupervisors of the agent regarding customer requested escalations, fatalerrors; manual dispositions: Intent, Call Type, Customer Sentiments;missing critical script compliance during call; accessing multiple dataduring call leading to missed opportunities while doing so; andconsiderable time consumed in summarizing the calls, that could be proneto errors and increases ACHT. The embodiments described herein may beintegrated with call logging systems, customer relationship managementsystems, or knowledge base systems.

The methods described herein may be implemented in software, hardware,or a combination thereof, in different embodiments. In addition, theorder of methods may be changed, and various elements may be added,reordered, combined, omitted or otherwise modified. All examplesdescribed herein are presented in a non-limiting manner. Variousmodifications and changes may be made as would be obvious to a personskilled in the art having benefit of this disclosure. Realizations inaccordance with embodiments have been described in the context ofparticular embodiments. These embodiments are meant to be illustrativeand not limiting. Many variations, modifications, additions, andimprovements are possible.

Accordingly, plural instances may be provided for components describedherein as a single instance. Boundaries between various components,operations, and data stores are somewhat arbitrary, and particularoperations are illustrated in the context of specific illustrativeconfigurations. Finally, structures and functionality presented asdiscrete components in the example configurations may be implemented asa combined structure or component. These and other variations,modifications, additions, and improvements may fall within the scope ofembodiments as described.

While the foregoing is directed to embodiments of the present invention,other and further embodiments of the invention may be devised withoutdeparting from the basic scope thereof.

I claim:
 1. A call summarization apparatus for automated real-timesummarization of a call between a customer and an agent while the callis active, the apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and amemory communicably coupled to the processor, the memory comprisingcomputer-executable instructions, which when executed using the at leastone processor, implements a method comprising: determining, on the callsummarization apparatus, an issue of a customer based on at least one ofa call transcript, an intent extracted from the call transcript, or aslot of the intent extracted from the call transcript, determining, onthe call summarization apparatus, from the call transcript, a resolutionprovided by an agent to the customer, determining, on the callsummarization apparatus, from the call transcript, an action itemidentified by the agent to implement the resolution, and displaying asummary comprising the resolution, the action item, and at least one ofthe issue, the intent, or the slot in a graphical user interface (GUI)on a device accessible to the agent.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the method further comprises: receiving, on a call summarizationapparatus, audio data of the call; transcribing, on the callsummarization apparatus, the audio data to text, immediately uponreceipt of the audio data.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein themethod further comprises determining, from the call transcript, asentiment, wherein the sentiment is one of positive, neutral ornegative.
 4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the summary furthercomprises the sentiment.
 5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the methodfurther comprises: determining, based on the call transcript,non-compliance with compliance rules; and generating an alert ifnon-compliance determined, wherein the summary further comprises thenon-compliance.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the summary iseditable in the GUI.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the methodfurther comprises, automatically sending the summary, from the callsummarization apparatus, to a supervisor of the agent.
 8. A method forreal-time automated summarization of a call between a customer and anagent while the call is active, the method comprising: determining, on acall summarization apparatus, an issue of a customer based on at leastone of a call transcript, an intent extracted from the call transcript,or a slot of the intent extracted from the call transcript; determining,on the call summarization apparatus, from the call transcript, aresolution provided by an agent to the customer; determining, on thecall summarization apparatus, from the call transcript, an action itemidentified by the agent to implement the resolution; and displaying asummary comprising the resolution, the action item, and at least one ofthe issue, the intent, or the slot in a graphical user interface (GUI)on a device accessible to the agent.
 9. The method of claim 8, furthercomprising: receiving, on a call summarization apparatus, audio data ofthe call; transcribing, on the call summarization apparatus, the audiodata to text, immediately upon receipt of the audio data.
 10. The methodof claim 8, further comprising determining, from the call transcript, asentiment, wherein the sentiment is one of positive, neutral ornegative.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the summary furthercomprises the sentiment.
 12. The method of claim 10, further comprising:determining, based on the call transcript, non-compliance withcompliance rules; and generating an alert if non-compliance determined,wherein the summary further comprises the non-compliance.
 13. The methodof claim 8, wherein the summary is editable in the GUI.
 14. The methodof claim 8, further comprising, automatically sending the summary, fromthe call summarization apparatus, to a supervisor of the agent.